Travel-India

Details: Written by Anchal B Chaudhary

Places to Visit in Bodh Gaya

Mahabodhi Temple

What is now popularly known as Mahabodhi Temple is the main monastery of Bodhgaya and was called ‘Bodhimanda-Vihara’ in the Pali Canon.

Dated back to 2^nd century AD, Mahabodhi Temple has been restored over the years and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

In and around the temple, monks dressed in maroon and red robes can be seen meditating, studying religious texts, making offerings to statues & stupas and perambulating the sacred temple.

Timings: 05:00 AM to 09:00 PM

Bodhi Tree

Within the temple premises is a banyan tree which is said to be the descendant of the tree under which Siddhartha Gautam saw the light of wisdom after 49 days of meditation and became Buddha, ‘the enlightened one’. Enlightenment is said to linger in its roots and in the breeze that flows through its branches.

Under the Bodhi tree is a red sandstone slab that’s said to be the Vajrasana, the seat of stability, that marks the place where Buddha sat on meditation and attained ‘Nirvana’.

Chakramana

Along the wall of the temple is a long raised platform, called the Chakramana, where Buddha made meditative perambulations. It’s said that a lotus sprang wherever he placed his foot while perambulating.

Lotus Tank

Close to the temple is the Lotus Pond where a life-sized statue of Buddha sits, covered by a cobra. The statue depicts the legend that states that once Buddha was in deep meditation and was about to drown when a cobra had come to his rescue.

Animesh Lochan Chaitya

Said to be the site where Buddha spent 7 days looking at the Bodhi tree without batting his eyelids to express his gratitude towards Bodhi tree for sheltering him.

Buddha Statue

Sitting pretty in a serene garden is a 80-ft tall statue of Buddha sitting in ‘dhyan-mudra’. The statue was built by the Japanese and unveiled by the Dalai Lama in 1989.